Summer Teeth

I always thought this was a song about appreciation and not taking people for granted.

(Like a cloud his fingers explode) He’s at a typewriter thinking of something to write but nothing comes to him.

(On the typewriter ribbon, the shadow grows) Time passes.

(His hearts in a bowl behind the bank) I get a feeling from this line but I can’t put it into words.

(And every evening when he gets home-To make his supper and eat it alone-His black shirt cries-While his shoes get cold) Many thoughts pass through his mind and he thinks about his wife dying, coming home after the funeral in his black clothes, and thinks about being alone from now on.

(One summer, a suicide) Dreams of killing himself, he can’t live without her

(Another autumn, a traveler’s guide) Dreams of moving on and putting it behind him.

(He hits snooze twice before he dies) He's only at peace when he’s asleep, so when he wakes he slowly remebers she’s gone and life and the day are more like death to him now.

(He feels lucky to have you here-In his kitchen, in your chair-Sometimes he forgets that you're even there-It's just a dream he keeps having-And it doesn't seem to mean anything) He shakes the thought from his head and looks at his wife and realizes how lucky he is.

It's just a dream And it doesn't seem to mean anything

Relief

This song makes me so happy, I think about all the people in my life and how lucky I am to have them.

summer teeth is tweedy'd description of the album. once he wrote the lyrics he thought they were too dark and it would upset his listeners, so he made the music sweet and fairly poppy (see candy floss). so the album appears sweet like summer, but it really has hard, sharp, dangerous teeth.

This song is wonderfully preverse because the lyrics completly clash with the cheerful tune, and the tweeting of the birds in the background.

He hits snooze twice before he dies

I like how the character doesn't wake up... he dies.

Wilco has a funny thing with words. "Why the hell is this named summer teeth?" Beats me. Some are teeth. like She's a jar. Ajar. hah.

Yeah, I love that line. I think it's one of the best lines in any Wilco song.

"He hits snooze twice before he dies"

Maybe a play on how people don't take advantage of their time. This guy inadvertantly chose to live his last few hours on a bed, asleep. There's a great bit of black comedy there. :-)

Summerteeth is a reference to women, but I don't know how to apply it here.

It's used like this: "Summerteeth are there, summerteeth are there". It's a woman with bad teeth-- "some [of her] teeth" = summerteeth.

Don't know why.

For some reason, I always thought of this song as about an author. benodictine has good ideas that I've never considered, that could very well be it. Here's what I thought: "Like a cloud his fingers explode" -- This line was unclear to me... "like a cloud??" I thought the "fingers explode" meant that he was typing fast, was eager to write somethin down.

"His hearts in a bowl behind the bank" I assumed this meant he was so far in debt and so poor that the bank, owed lots of money, had also taken his spirits and happiness from him, just as they can take possessions and property.

"Make his supper and eat it alone" Hints maybe that his loneliness weighs on him even more than his financial problems.

"His black shirt cries while his shoes get cold" I pictured his sweat being the "tears" the shirt.. perhaps not affording air conditioning? His shoes are cold because he's not wearing them, but I can't think what that'd mean.

"One summer, a suicide" In the summer of a particular year in the past, he wrote a fictional novel that excited him, capturing his love of storytelling and focusing on a suicide. "Another autumn, a traveler's guide" Some time after the suicide novel, he is so bound by finances that he needs to stop his freelance writing and pick up a job at... say... Frommer's and write traveler's guides to recieve more steady income.

" He feels lucky to have you here In his kitchen, in your chair Sometimes he forgets that you're even there" The writer finds someone, perhaps a girlfriend, who he can really love and peace from financial problems and a cure to loneliness spawn from her presence. Just having her around is enough. "sometimes he forgets that you're even there" He gets so absorbed in his other love, writing, that he loses track of other things.

I guess i can't explain the "dream he keeps having".. the other explanation is starting to sound pretty convincing. Oh welll, make of it what you will.

Oh, and if someone can explain what "like a cloud" means and "shoes get cold", that would be cool.

I think it's about an unexplainable emptiness in a person's life. You may not be lonely or sick, but you may question why you're where you're at right now, why you live the life you do. But I guess it all makes sense when you wake up.

I think its about suicide. The part where it says "On the typewriter ribbon, the shadow grows" to me means he's writing a suicide note, and where it says "His black shirt cries While his shoes get cold" means when you bleed in a black shirt, it doesnt show up red, it just shows up as a wet spot, and "shoes get cold" is how you get cold when you die.

Or maybe it means he's having a dream where he's committing suicide or dying. And the part where it goes "he feels lucky to have you here, etc." means after having these dreams he's turning his life around or making it better.

I'm not really sure though. Good Song.